BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2200
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 2200 (Ma)
As Amended May 1, 2012
Majority vote
TRANSPORTATION 9-2 APPROPRIATIONS 12-5
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|Ayes:|Bonnie Lowenthal, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Blumenfield, |
| |Jeffries, Achadjian, | |Bradford, Charles |
| |Blumenfield, Eng, Carter, | |Calderon, Campos, Davis, |
| |Galgiani, Portantino, | |Gatto, Ammiano, Hill, |
| |Solorio | |Lara, Mitchell, Solorio |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | |Nays:|Harkey, Donnelly, |
| | | |Nielsen, Norby, Wagner |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Suspends, until January 1, 2020, the operation of
high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes in the Interstate 80 corridor
within the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Transportation
Commission (MTC) during the reverse commute direction, as
defined. Specifically, this bill :
1)Suspends, until January 1, 2020, operation of the HOV lanes on
this particular corridor during this particular period, so
long as doing so is consistent with the State Implementation
Plan (SIP) for the San Francisco Bay area and with other
federal requirements.
2)Defines "reverse commute direction" to mean eastbound on
Interstate 80 between the hours of 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. and
westbound on Interstate 80 between the hours of 3 p.m. and 7
p.m.
3)Makes findings and declarations regarding the unique nature of
the Interstate 80 corridor in the San Francisco Bay area.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Authorizes the California Department of Transportation
(Caltrans) and local authorities, with respect to highways
under their respective jurisdictions, to permit preferential
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use of highway lanes for HOVs, under specific conditions.
2)Requires Caltrans, or the appropriate local entity, to produce
engineering reports that estimate the effect of an HOV lane
prior to establishing the lane. The reports must evaluate the
proposals for safety, congestion, and highway capacity.
3)Vests, under federal law, state departments of transportation
with responsibility for establishing occupancy requirements
for vehicles using HOV lanes, except that the requirement can
be no less than two occupants.
4)Requires, under the federal Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990,
states that do not meet federal standards for carbon monoxide
and ozone to develop SIPs.
5)Requires, under federal law, SIPs to result in emission
reductions to federal standards and to conform with regional
transportation plans;
6)Authorizes federal sanctions for a state's failure to conform
to SIP requirements; sanctions include withholding approval
for federal highway projects.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, one-time costs of $180,000 to replace approximately
75 barrier-mounted/ground mounted signs ($2,000 each) and six
overhead HOV signs ($5,000 each).
COMMENTS : The primary purpose of an HOV lane is to increase the
total number of people moved through a congested corridor by
offering two kinds of incentives: a savings in travel time and
a reliable and predictable travel time. Because HOV lanes carry
vehicles with a higher number of occupants, they may move
significantly more people during congested periods, even when
the number of vehicles that use the HOV lane is lower than on
the adjoining general-purpose lanes. In general, carpoolers,
vanpoolers, and transit users are the primary beneficiaries of
HOV lanes.
HOV lanes work best where significant roadway congestion during
the peak periods occurs. Experience with HOV lanes from around
the country has shown a positive relationship between ridership
and travel time savings, suggesting that, as congestion grows,
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the travelers' willingness to carpool or ride on a bus that uses
an HOV lane also grows.
In the Bay Area, HOV lane occupancy requirements are two or more
except on parts of the system that feed into the San
Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, Carquinez Bridge, and the
Benicia-Martinez Bridge, which have HOV occupancy requirements
of three or more. While federal law vests states with the
authority to set the minimum HOV occupancy requirements, in
practice this decision is made in the Bay Area jointly by
Caltrans, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and MTC.
HOV lanes in the Bay Area are operated contiguous with general
purpose lanes and have continuous unlimited access into and out
of the lane, with no buffer (neither physical nor striped)
separating them from the adjacent lanes. The lane restrictions
are in effect only during weekday commute periods (e.g., 5-9
a.m. and 3-7 p.m.). During off-peak periods and on weekends,
the lanes are open to all traffic. Typically, HOV lanes work at
their optimum when the vehicular volume is approximately 1,650
vehicles per hour. (In contrast, mixed flow lanes are generally
expected optimally to carry between 1,800 and 2,000 vehicles per
hour.)
This bill suspends operation of the HOV lanes in Interstate 80
between the Carquinez Bridge and the San Francisco-Oakland Bay
Bridge during the reverse commute direction. The author asserts
that HOV lanes in this corridor are not fully utilized at all
times. She cites as evidence recent HOV volume reports
demonstrating that while the HOV lanes may be at or near
capacity in the morning (approximately 1,750 vehicles per hour),
only 200 vehicles per hour used the HOV lane in the reverse
commute direction.
MTC is pursuing an ambitious plan to develop a region-wide
high-occupancy toll (HOT) lane network throughout the San
Francisco Bay area, including Interstate 80 within its
jurisdiction. Because of that, the bill includes a January 1,
2020, sunset date to ensure that the proposed HOT lane is not
impacted by suspending operation of the HOV lanes.
Previous legislation: AB 2132 (Sher), Chapter 940, Statues of
1991, authorized Caltrans to establish HOV lanes on the new
Dumbarton and San Mateo bridges and the bridge approaches and
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established the occupancy requirements for those HOV lanes at
two or more. (These provisions were later repealed by SB 916
(Perata), Chapter 716, Statutes of 2003.)
Analysis Prepared by : Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093
FN: 0003814